Photo, above: Narberth, Pa, 13th CD Pennsylavania: see Salena Zito, PTR at 945 PM ET.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter

Hour One

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 1, Block A: Aaron Task, Yahoo Finance & The Daily Ticker, in re: Two months in a row, weak jobs numbers.  The market sold off a quick 5% in January, was not reactive today – news already priced in.  Macrostory is worldwide competition for labor, eqpt; no inducement for US bz to go out and spend money.  Ben Bernanke was great fro Wall Street; may have concern that Janet Yellin will not be so.   Massive trade deficit, US to China.  Lenovo buying up parts of Old Tech. US looks like the tallest midget, the best bldg in a bad neighborhood [the pig with the prettiest lipstick], etc.  How crazy is it for the US to say it'll default?  Not a question f the result but of how it's orchestrated – restoration of former cuts to Defense, etc.  Markets know that he debt ceiling ill be increased, just a matter of posturing.

Job growth remains weak
 The U.S. economy added 113000 jobs in January, according to the... as many experts were quick to write off the December report as a fluke.

US January Jobs Report 2014: Unemployment Rate Falls To 6.6%, Nonfarm Payrolls Rise by 113k


January jobs report disappoints again - chicagotribune.com


The U.S. economy created a disappointing 113,000 new jobs in January, the Labor Department reported . . . 


Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 1, Block B:  Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re: Obama Adm defeated by Karzai?  Plans for Afghanistan have been put on ice – the obvious move shd have done as soon as they realized that Karzai wouldn't play ball.  Now, it's an admission of failure that Karzai refused to sign bilateral security agreement.  Washington looks like it got rolled by Karzai; looks awful internationally.  Tales that Karzai was talking with Taliban secretly; may also be vindictiveness vs. Obama, who leaked awful stories about Karzai (and the tales be true).  Karzai says his successor should sign the agreement – gives him leave to install the next Afghan president.  [Editor: Is Iran also contributing some funds to Karzai to sabotage the US?]  Overall, Karzai is probably tired of being seen as a US client.  Anent Syria: Chechen as samurai, ronin, wandering the Earth.  There's a Chechen brigade in Syria.  Used to be Muhajereen army [army of emigrants]; spilt late last year into three groups, one pledged allegiance to Al Nusrah Front [al Q in Syria].  A Chechen is dead in Syria; wherever the Chechens are: no surrender.

US adds 4 Qods Force operatives to terrorism list for supporting terrorism in Afghanistan  Three Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force officers and one facilitator who are involved in the "use of terrorism and intelligence operations as tools of influence against the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan" were added to the US' list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.  Treasury Department identifies another Iran-based facilitator for al Qaeda  The Treasury Department confirmed today that the head of al Qaeda's Iran-based network, known as Yasin al Suri, is operational once again. Treasury also designated an additional "associate" of al Suri's.

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 1, Block C:  Francis Rose, Federal News Radio, in re: Employers have to cover 70% of employees in 2015; next year, 95%.  It’s so odd, I wonder if this Administration has lost control.  Recall the tale the FDR at breakfast used to decide the price of gold each morning. Is that what the WH is doing?  Don'tt seem to realize that instead of making it easier, they’re making it more difficult for companies. The whole point was to give people health insurance; they're splitting hairs so finely we can’t get there.  Firms going to Congressman: I have no idea how to put this in place. Dem Members going to WH saying, "You gotta do something about this."  The web site blowing up was the first inkling that this was a big failure.   Last week, the CBO said that 2 -2.5 million jobs will be lost because of Obamacare. [CBO suddenly became the GOP's favorite organization.] A Ms Popper in Indiana, 56 years old; was keeping accounts, then the boss changed her job to secretary, which she didn’t like; she saw that under ACA it’s cheaper for her to stay home, so she quit.  Incentivizing individuals not to be productive in income and taxes. The 2014 & 2016 elections: yes, fear on the Senate side. Fear on the House side dissipated long ago; Henry Waxman left – if he'd thought he had a chance to be chairman again, he would have stayed, but that's not on a foreseeable landscape.  Firms with 50-99 workers are free from the mandate till 2016; larger companies, different – but use an erasable pencil, as this'll change again. 

HealthCare.gov firm has had a series of stumbles Accenture, hired to help fix HealthCare.gov, has had a series of stumbles    Accenture, the contractor urgently tapped to help fix the federal health-insurance Web site, is a favorite of corporate America but has a record that includes troubled projects and allegations of ethical lapses, a review of the consulting giant’s history shows.

At the University of Michigan, students and faculty members are protesting the school’s use of Accenture to help cut costs, citing a report by a committee of alumni and graduate students that said the firm has “a disturbing pattern of problematic past performance.” In North Carolina, glitches in an Accenture-configured computer system contributed to massive backlogs for food-stamp recipients, leading the Obama administration last month to threaten to withdraw the state’s food-stamp funding.

Federal officials have also on occasion criticized the company’s integrity. The U.S. Postal Service Inspector General’s Office wrote in June that Accenture had “demonstrated an absence of business ethics” and said that the agency should consider terminating the firm’s more than $200 million in contracts. The office cited in part a 2011 settlement with the Justice Department in which Accenture paid $63 million to resolve alle­gations of what the government called “kickbacks” and “bid-
rigging” in numerous federal contracts. The company denied wrongdoing in the case.  [more]

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 1, Block D:  Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review & Pirates fan, in re:  Narberth, PA: now transformed into an enclave of high-earning families.  Margolis re-enters PA-13. Clintons?

Hour Two

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 2, Block A:  David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Sr Congressional correspondent, in re: Rand Paul launches pre-emptive 2016 strike on Bill Clinton  Seeking to dent Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential aspirations and to combat the accusation that the GOP is waging a war on women, Sen. Rand Paul is waging a war on Bubba. Published   Duel in the Sun.   Clinton Campaign ‘In Place’ Mitchell: Donors wooed at State Dept. events.   Scott Brown tantalizes N.H. with prospect of Senate run  One of the state’s newest residents could shake up its politics if he opts to challenge Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 2, Block B:  Arif Rafiq, PakistanRisk, in re: Saudi Arabia asks Pakistan to put two divisions – 30,00 troops - in Saudi.   Saudis visiting Pakistan & Pakistanis in Saudi in January. Will sign a defense agreement; both countries on the verge of regional realignments; US no longer the guarantor of regional stability.  Pakistanis may not have 30,000 troops but can send trainers in exchange for important concessions on oil.  China has proposed $30 bil in assistance to Pakistan; US hasn’t even disbursed half of what it’s promised over the past five years.   Reversion to the old partnership Pakistanis and Saudis had in the Sixties and Seventies: trained land and air force.  Obama Administration has failed to see how important the Middle East will be in years to come.

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 2, Block C:  Claudia Rosett, FDD, in re:  The U.N. Assault on the Catholic Church Leader of over a billion Catholics, need not cleave in all respects to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Childs; UN suddenly demands statistics on child abuse – by all categories.  The convention and committee are really about power; 18 functionaries elected by the UN GA; surprised the Holy See. A Norwegian chairs the mtg; Saudi, Russia, Ethiopia, others who have massive human rights problems.  Demand that the Catholic Church overturn every position it holds that they don’t – all supposedly in the name of The Child.  North Korea?  Much regret the paucity of information, but nothing like the bullying the committee has done against he Vatican. Iran lads the world in child executions; no word for another four years.  Forever slamming Israel, now the Catholics; but these are bigots form despotic states to wrk under UN auspices.  "Lawfare" – you take a small piece of law, give it  headlines, and use it as a weapon.  Committee is demanding that the Church withdraw all the formal reservations it held upon entering. Btw, the US has refused to join this organization because it's massively intrusive.  This is an attempt by the UN to co-opt and take over the Catholic Church by the UN.  Note 2002 girls's school in Mecca: they died because the Saudi religious police drove the girls back into the building because they weren't veiled, so all the girls burned to a crisp.  No report on this by the UN committee.

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 2, Block D:  Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: Something unusual going on between China and its neighbors, incl the US, Japan, Korea, the Philippines. Rumor: the ADIZ unilaterally declared by the PLAN – this will be followed by an ADIZ over the whole South China Sea!  May delay implementation, but not forever.  Report from a Japanese paper, but the US acted by [in effect] forbidding it. China has the problem of being substantially under the control of its military, which doesn’t care what others think.  US Pacific forces planning for some eventuality with China. Adm Locklear says the major threat is  - global warming.  Adm Carlisle says that widespread comparisons of today to pre-WWII are "not helpful" – although a lot of thoughtful people are saying it is.  East Asia becoming quite dangerous.  Chinese flag officers – e.g., Lu Yaojou – speaks of  ____; another: shooting down aircraft.  Shinzo Abe now has the Japanese public behind him, so he can speak most belligerently, going from strength to strength. South Koreans would love to sit it out, but Chinese will taunt and jab them.

Air Defence Identification Zone.  US Secretary of State John Kerry vows to back Japan in East China Sea.   Rescue of blazing boat by frigate seen as PLA statement in East China Sea  Swift action by PLA Navy - after Japanese had offered to assist burning Zhe-jiang fishing boat - seen as sign of its readiness in East China Sea

Hour Three

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 3, Block A:   Sharon Begley, Reuters, in re: AIDS patients in Obamacare limbo as insurers reject checks: refuses to accept third-party check – which come fro the feds because that program was established specifically for that.  Rule is, you cannot be denied health care.  Blue Cross/Shield says, Oh we're not denying anyone; we just won’t accept checks from AIDS clients. If you show up with a Ryan White Check, you'll be kicked out of whatever you may have enrolled in in Louisiana Blue.

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 3, Block B:  Reza Kahlili, author, A Time to Betray, in re: The Daily Caller, Iranian naval admiral: ‘If needed, we can move to within three miles of New York’.  KAHLILI: Iranian missiles could soon reach U.S. shores. No Parchin access. Iran agreed to seven "practical steps" in talks with the International Atomic Energy Agency that sought to further safeguards and transparency in the Iranian nuclear program, an Iranian nuclear official said Feb. 9, AFP reported. The steps do not include granting the IAEA access to Iran's Parchin military site, where the agency believes experiments relating to the development of nuclear weapons took place.

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 3, Block C: Michael Auslin, AEI, in re: How China Undercuts International Order in East Asia

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 3, Block D:   Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: More global warming fraud: A close review of the sources cited in the studies that claimed a 97% scientific consensus supporting global warming has found that claim to be false. Instead of a 97% consensus, the review found that only 1 to 3% supported global warming. Quite a difference, eh?  The review’s press release nicely summarizes the incompetence or downright dishonesty of three of these consensus studies:

The Oreskes (2004) study claimed 75% consensus and a “remarkable lack of disagreement” by the other 25% of the abstracts she reviewed. Peiser (2005) re-ran her survey and found major discrepancies. Only 1.2% or 13 scientists out of 1,117 agreed with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) view that human activity is the main cause of global warming since 1950. Peiser found that 34 scientists rejected or doubted the alleged ‘consensus’ position outright and 44 claimed natural factors as more influential. At least 470 papers expressed no position on Anthropogenic (human-caused) Global Warming (AGW) whatsoever.

Doran & Zimmerman (2009) only assessed 79 scientists out of 3,146 respondents. Many scientists sent them emails protesting the survey design.

The recent Cook et al. (2013) began with the broadest possible ‘consensus’ definition – rendering the idea of ‘consensus’ meaningless. Only 0.54% (or 64 scientists) explicitly agreed. Though Cook’s graphics on The Consensus Project website focus on fossil fuels, his study used the 1996 Houghton declaration, which includes other human factors like agriculture and land-use change. Some 7983 scientists or 67% of the ~12,000 papers in the Cook study had no position on climate change. Many scientists publicly denounced Cook for wrongly assessing their work as supporting AGW when it does not.

Based on my experience talking to climate scientists as well as reading innumerable papers, I have always thought that the 97% consensus claim was weak or fishy. Now we not only have proof, we have evidence that the claim was based on lies.

Hour Four

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 4, Block A:  William Siegel, author, The Control Factor, and Las Vegas Law Review Journals, in re:  IRGC is constitutionally obliged to declare war on the planet via Shi'a jihad; "strike fear into the enemy," says Qu'ran.  It’s not just the weapons, it’s the Iranian constitution   President Barack Obama’s current diplomatic effort with Iran is founded upon the hope that its new president, Hassan Rouhani, is in fact moderate and will agree to forfeit Iran’s goal of building nuclear weapons. Obama ought to have first revisited Iran’s most critical position paper — the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It best defines the Iranian regime’s policies and true intentions   [more]  "Establish a universal holy government and bring abut the downfall of all others." This is global and immutable.

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 4, Block B: Julia Preston, in re:  Program Benefiting Some Immigrants Extends Visa Wait for Others A push to defer deportations for young undocumented immigrants has meant delays in granting green cards to relatives of citizens, usually a comparatively swift process.

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 4, Block C:  Henry I Miller, M.D., Hoover & Forbes.com, in re: A Thirst for Technology to Mitigate California's Drought

Monday 10  February 2014  / Hour 4, Block D:   John Schwartz, NYT, in re:  A Bird Flies South, and It’s News The large white predators have recently been spotted far from their usual winter habitat in the Arctic Circle. But what does it mean?

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Music

Hour 1:  Sherlock Holmes.  Knight and Day.

Hour 2:  Daredevil.  The Road.  Game of Thrones (season 3). Oblivion.

Hour 3:  Lost. Babylon AD.  The Hunted.  Avatar. 

Hour 4: The Hunted. Knight & Day.